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Teachers, Get Smart w/ Your Long Term Savings (Episode 30)

Today, we’re gonna talk about how your bank can help you save money for those long-term teacher goals. Watch the YouTube video here >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoEpbhXb-DI
Here’s the problem we had: we’d save money in our bank, but it was all going into a giant fund and we didn’t know which money was for what goal. Then we found a bank that had what we wanted, separate savings accounts. We needed a bank that would let us open mini accounts within our main account. SchoolsFirst was the bank that worked for us, but you just need to find one that has this ability. So here’s what we do now. We thought up all the long-term items we wanted to save money for. Basically, anything that we’d get hit by those $500+ bombs that always make us feel like we don’t have money for them.

New/Used Car

Auto Maintenance

Tires

Travel

TV

Refrigerator

Washer/Dryer

Mattress

Computers

Computer Software/Virus Protection

Phones

Cameras

Kids' College

Down Payment on a House

Then we made a mini-account for each one. SchoolsFirst calls them “shares.” We planned how much we needed to save each month so we’d have enough saved when we needed to purchase each goal. Then each month when we get paid, we would immediately transfer that amount into each mini-account.
And here’s the key … you can’t spend these savings accounts. Do it each month and the money will be there for you when these “surprises” come. But let’s just be honest … they aren’t surprises. We know these expenses are coming … we just need to plan for them.
So our success story with this. A few months ago we wanted a new mattress. We’d spent the last 24 months saving up for it, and we went and bought it. Had all the money we needed. This month we move and needed a fridge and had more than half the amount we needed. We didn’t have all, but we hadn’t been saving long enough to have the whole amount, so we were fine with that. Then guess what, this month, we start saving for our next fridge.
We hope this lead you toward some skills to help you make it through the year and those summer months without paychecks. We welcome your ideas too because we’re a community, and we’ve got lots to learn from each other.Conversation of the Day: What tips/tricks/strategies do you have to save for your long-term goals?

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